Windows to the Soul
by Riverchic1998
Summary: Derek looked at him like he had lost his mind, which was a very real possibility at this point. He had just spent the last week researching eye color like his life depended on it. But Derek's magic eye color bugged him and Wikipedia had been no help.


It started out simply enough. Erica wanted an updated driver's license. She brought up the subject when she asked one of the boys to go with her after school. Stiles was too busy inhaling his curly fries to answer when she first talked about it, but swallowed enough to respond.

"You can't have your picture taken at the station," he said, swiping another fry through some ketchup.

"And why not?" she asked, her eyebrow arching. Scott had the good sense to lean back, especially since he was sitting across from her and next to Stiles.

"Because, the camera flash will make your eyes flash and glow. It happened to Derek when they tried to take his mug shot."

"But Derek has a driver's license," Isaac said. "It looks normal, too."

Stiles' shrugged. "I'll ask him." Because now he was curious. Damn.

...

"Dude, can I see your driver's license?" Stiles asked as soon as Derek came through his window. He texted the alpha earlier asking him to come over, but he just conveniently left out the reason why. Judging by the confused look on his face, Derek wasn't expecting a simple question.

"What?"

"Your driver's license," Stiles said slowly. "Can I see it?"

The expression on Derek's face didn't change. "What?"

"Oh my god, how can I say it any slower? Just let me see your damn driver's license!"

This time, Derek narrowed his eyes at Stiles. "Why?"

"Because the puppies all want one, and Scott is going to need to renew his soon anyway, but the camera at the station would make their eyes flash. Isaac said you had one and I want to see what it looks like."

"Why?"

Stiles stared at him for a few moments. "Now you're just screwing with me."

Derek rolled his eyes. "What good will looking at my driver's license do?"

"I want to see if I can figure out how the eyes reacted to the camera flash so that they can get one. Also, I want to see if it's a fake."

Stiles held out his hand and made a gimme motion. Derek sighed and reached into his back pocket but paused after he slid his driver's license out. "You can spot a fake driver's license?" he asked incredulously before starting to hand it over. Slowly.

He made the motion again. "I'm the son of a sheriff. I have to be able to spot a fake so I can make a better one."

This time, Derek pulled back his driver's license. Stiles groaned because he _almost had it_.

"You have a fake license?"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

The words came out before he could stop them. His brain did not scream _abort_ fast enough. He coughed awkwardly, but Derek lips twitched, which was practically a full-blown belly laugh for him, and handed over the license. Stiles grabbed the fake he had wedged in between two drawers of his desk and gave it to Derek.

When he finally looked down at the license in his hand, his eyebrows went up. "Dude, why do you still have a New York license?"

Derek glared at him. "I've been a little busy since I came back to California. And considering I'm not on that good of terms with the local law enforcement, I decided that I can wait a while before getting a new one."

Stiles peered closely at the edges of the picture in the license before running his hands over the worn edges. Judging by the laminate and the hologram on the license, it was real. Or a professionally made fake with the proper equipment, which is how he did his. Sneaking into the DMV portion of the station at night was easy, especially if his dad was conked out after a nightcap or dealing with a call. Making the new licenses this time would be easier since he had partners in crime to make distractions all over town.

"How is this a fake?" Derek asked, looking over the license with as much scrutiny as Stiles looked over his.

"Uh, you know I'm not actually 22, right?" he asked with a grin. Derek glared at him, but Stiles just grinned wider. "I made it at the DMV. The only thing I changed was my date of birth."

Derek handed the fake license back, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't know which is more sad—that you use your facial expressions to ask questions instead of using words like normal people or the fact that I can actually understand said expressions now." He tucked the fake back in between the two drawers. "In addition to being able to spot a fake license, I can also pick locks. Breaking into the DMV isn't hard and I use the equipment so technically, the license itself isn't a fake. Just the birth year."

He finally handed back Derek's license. "So yours is real. How did that work?"

Derek shrugged.

"Of course," he said, rolling his eyes. "Where did you get it made?"

"The local DMV."

"Where?" When Derek gave him his normal '_your existence irritates me_' look, Stiles held up his hands in surrender. "It is not my fault you're allergic to verbal communication. What town? I want to call them and see what camera they use. Obviously they have one that slows shutter speeds or has a different flash or something."

"Millerton. A wolf from the local pack worked there and handled licenses and insurance for us. The camera was specially modified for wolves."

Stiles nodded and wrote some notes on a legal pad. "I can work with that. Think they'd be willing to share the secret?"

"I don't see why not."

He was glad his back was still to Derek, because the frustrated face he made was sure to earn him a slam into the wall. Getting words out of Derek was harder than getting blood out of stone.

...

Whatever Derek said, contacting the DMV in Millerton for information on werewolf-specific cameras was easy and they were more than willing to share, especially when he name-dropped Derek. The elderly woman on the other end of the phone recalled how sweet Derek had been and Stiles almost choked himself trying not to out-right laugh.

The camera he needed was a bit on the expensive side, as were the extra lenses and the flash he would have to modify himself. He also would have to use a photo editing software to edit some of the glow around the eyes, because apparently all the modifications still wouldn't cut it out completely, but that would be easy. Derek paid for the instruments and when they arrived, Stiles did a happy dance.

He stayed up until four in the morning, on a school night no less, modifying the camera so it could take werewolf pictures without the laser eye beams of doom showing up. The one picture he took of himself nearly blinded him but it turned out fine, even if he looked like he was on crack, drunk, and sick all at the same time.

The next day, he whipped out the camera and took a quick shot of Isaac laughing at something Scott did, and when he looked at the display screen, he cheered when there was no large glare. After that, he couldn't stop taking pictures. Erica was the only one who didn't hide her face outright, striking poses whenever Stiles lifted the camera, but Isaac wasn't ducking his head or turning around as often. Boyd just looked bored and let Stiles take all the pictures he wanted. Allison gave Scott a kiss on the cheek in one picture and demanded a copy when she saw that she could actually see Scott's face.

That afternoon, they went to the Hale house and made plans for when to break into the DMV so Stiles could take the pictures. He would have to edit them perfectly on his own laptop later and then sneak back in to actually make the licenses. When Stiles received a text from his dad letting him know he was being called in, they decided to take the pictures that night. He even convinced Derek to come along and get a current license.

...

Taking the pictures was easy. He took lots of different shots, especially for Erica because she complained that her hair never looked right, and also promised to make a real license and one with a fake birth year for them all, but only if they promised to be responsible. Stiles got a lot of eye rolls at the comment, but it wasn't like they could actually get drunk now anyway.

Stiles decided to start editing the pictures that night, since everyone wanted their license _right that very second_. Erica's was the easiest because she gave the camera her sexy, half-closed look anyway. He zoomed in close to the eyes and got rid of the glare around her dark brown eyes. Boyd was next and he simply had to do the same as he did for Erica. Scott squinted when he smiled wide, so there wasn't much to fix in his brown eyes.

Isaac's eyes were a bit harder since they were a lighter blue. He obsessed for twenty minutes over the right color to use over the spot that was lightened by the glare, but he finally found it. When he got to Jackson's picture, he just used the same color, doing an admittedly half-assed job but whatever. It looked fine.

Derek was the last one he had to do and when Stiles pulled up the picture—where Derek didn't smile, of course—and zoomed into the eyes, he blinked. After staring at the picture for a good ten minutes, he sat back in his chair. "What the _hell_?"

...

"Oh my god, dude! What are your eyes? Just…what are they?!" he yelled as he stomped into the Hale house the next day, which was thankfully a Saturday. Derek was in what used to be the front living room, sitting on a chair and Stiles walked up to him, leaning down to get a closer look. "Are they blue? Brown? Green? Gray? Some weird mixture of all four? What's listed on your license because _I have no idea_?"

Derek stood up and put a hand in the middle of Stiles' chest, pushing him away. Stiles just leaned forward and examined Derek's eyes, watching the pupils dilate and contract. The colors were _still_ changing. "I need a flashlight."

Just as he spun around, Derek's hand moved from his chest to his shoulder to keep him in place.

"Stiles," he began firmly. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your eyes, dude!" he said, his arms gesturing at his face. "I have no idea what color they are. They're like this weird brown and blue and green and then you have that really dark gray ring and I thought maybe they were hazel but that doesn't even begin to cover it and then it could be hazel with a mix of amber but then _that_ doesn't even begin to cover it. In one picture they were completely green and in another it was almost a dark brown. _What are they_?!"

Derek looked at him like he had lost his mind, which was a very real possibility at this point. He had just spent the last week researching eye color like his life depended on it. But Derek's magic eye color bugged him and Wikipedia had been no help.

"Could you not fix the picture for the license?" he asked after a moment, prompting Stiles to throw his hands up in the air.

"Yes, I fixed it, but I had to pretty much use every color ever to do it. What the hell am I supposed to put under eye color on your license?"

Derek shrugged and turned around to sit back down. "I don't care. Just put something down."

"_Just put something_…" Stiles mocked. "Why don't I put red since that's your natural state anyway."

Stiles rushed out of the room when Derek turned around, red eyes and all, and growled at him.

...

A week later, Stiles handed out the new licenses. Everyone was grateful, except Jackson, and he even got a hug from Erica and Isaac. Yes, Erica copped a feel and Isaac squeezed too hard, but he didn't care. He was waiting for—

"Stiles!"

_That._

He turned around when Derek stomped into the room, his license gripped tightly in his hand.

"What the hell is this?" he snapped, holding up the license.

"It's your new license, buddy," Stiles replied with a grin. "You're welcome, by the way. It's not like I had to break into the DMV twice to get it done or anything."

Derek clenched his jaw and stalked closer, but Stiles kept grinning.

"My eyes are not _rainbow colored_."

Everyone else in the room tried to hold in the snickers. Scott was doing a terrible job and Boyd was leaned away in a coughing fit.

"Hey, you said to just put something down. So I did. I got every color covered. Although it took a while to fit the whole word under that little space. I had to keep changing the font and everything."

Derek took a deep breath, something he often did when talking with Stiles, and shoved the license to Stiles. "Fix it. It's an obvious fake."

Stiles pulled another license out of his back pocket, the one that simply listed HAZ under the eye color, but he didn't think it did Derek's eyes justice. "Don't worry about it. I made everyone two, remember? A real and a fake. Yours is just a bit more fake than the rest."

The license was snatched out of his hand and he leaned back when Derek stomped out of the room again. Allison walked over and was about to ask him a question, probably about why he gave Derek an obvious fake, but he shook his head.

He wanted to know how long it would take Derek to realize Stiles' switched his birth year so that he was a teenager again.

"_Stiles!_"


End file.
